


Tomatoes

by A_memory_box24, hyjinx



Category: iKON (Korea Band)
Genre: Hanbin is a fledgling lyricist, Jiwon is a sound tech, M/M, and a xanax, both work for same recording company, do they know each other, email is hard for jiwon, hanbin needs people skills, not yet, oh and tomatoes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-06-20 15:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15536802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_memory_box24/pseuds/A_memory_box24, https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyjinx/pseuds/hyjinx
Summary: Hanbin is a human disaster. Jiwon breaks everything. Neither of them should use email. But here we are. A story of love in times of fruit and hip-hop.





	1. Veronica

Shift. Enter.

Shift.  _Enter._

ENTER. ENTER. ENTER.

Oh shit. Did he just break Veronica? 

The sound of keyboard smash in an empty recording studio is loud, jarring and makes him cringe. It sounds like failure,  _his_ failure. Why’s he always alone when things go wrong?

Veronica is the new Pro-Tools digital audio workstation that covers most of the space in the room. He runs his hand over all the shiny buttons and switches that were no longer lighting up and wonders if it’s just his lot in life to break everything the first time he meets it. They only installed her last week, after years of using the pre-historic Logic System, and he was itching to test her out on the new hip-hop tracks his team were assigned. She is the most beautiful, expensive and important thing in the room,  _machine or human._

He loves her.

But she’s betraying him by not working. This isn’t a good start to the relationship, though it’s still not the worst one he’s been in,  _machine or human._  

He drags a hand through his hair and ties it back with a black elastic band. As a first and last resort, he resets the program, reboots the computer and shuts down everything else in the studio. His dumb hopeful heart soars for all of 2 seconds when the lights flicker on, but then it sinks down heavily,  _nauseatingly_ , when everything just fades to black again. 

Veronica is dead.

Worst girlfriend ever. 

And now he’s sitting alone in a dark recording studio like a chump. 

Thursday August 2nd. Timestamp 1215 pm. Mark it as the moment Kim Jiwon gets his ass fired. 

****

To: khb3@ygx.kr

From: kjw2@ygx.kr

Subject: EMRGENCY

i think i brke veronica, wtf do i do??

****

To: kjw2@ygx.kr

From: khb3@ygx.kr

Subject: EMRGENCY

Firstly, check the email address. Secondly, I don’t know Veronica.

****

To: khb3@ygx.kr

From: kjw2@ygx.kr

Subject: EMRGENCY

HYUK! can we not do this rght now!? boss gonna kill me, weres the it guy 2day?

****

To: kjw2@ygx.kr

From: khb3@ygx.kr

Subject: EMRGENCY

You can’t read. Guess this is why Veronica’s broken.

****

To: khb3@ygx.kr

From: kjw2@ygx.kr

Subject: EMRGENCY

tff????? if you dont wanna help a brother just say so. dnt need to be a dick abt it

****

To: kjw2@ygx.kr

From: khb3@ygx.kr

Subject: EMRGENCY

What is Veronica.

****

To: khb3@ygx.kr

From: kjw2@ygx.kr

Subject: EMRGENCY

She’s our pro tools program! R u having a laugh or smthing? Bc it aint cool, man

****

To: kjw2@ygx.kr

From: khb3@ygx.kr

Subject: EMRGENCY

Oh, you’re a sound tech. We don’t run Pro-Tools down here. We’re still using Logic. Might want to try Ken in IT but he doesn’t get back from lunch until 1. You should call him. But like, check the number so you don’t accidentally inconvenience someone else.

****

To: khb3@ygx.kr

From: kjw2@ygx.kr

Subject: EMRGENCY

youre not hyuk

****

To: kjw2@ygx.kr

From: khb3@ygx.kr

Subject: EMRGENCY

So it would seem.

****

To: khb3@ygx.kr

From: kjw2@ygx.kr

Subject: EMRGENCY

ok thnx for the help tho! and srry 4 callin u a dick haha

****

_Damn straight you’re sorry. Who goes around calling people dicks in company emails?_

Hanbin closed the email with a hiss of irritation and returned to the “work” on his desk before him: a serviette from the cafeteria covered in words that now meant nothing and a notebook full of half-finished sentences.

He was supposed to have written a whole breakup song by now, he promised the writing team he'd had it done by the end of the day. But everything he’d written sounded like flouncy Kafkaesque garbage, it was embarassing. He glanced at the time. Shit, shit, shit. He needed to get something to Jae before 4pm at least or else he was dead. 

But wait.

He opened up the last email and read it again. Whoever it was, were they aware that work emails could be audited at any time? Should he warn them the profanities were flagged? Just the other week someone from the editing team had been grilled over something email related. He knew because he’d heard the scolding from all the way down the hall. 

****

To: kjw2@ygx.kr

From: khb3@ygx.kr

Subject: WARNING

Hey just so you know profanities in emails are flagged by head office. Another reason to watch your language.

_****_

Wait.

He hesitated over the send button. What was he doing wasting time emailing god knows who? And what did it matter to him if the semi-illiterate fool got in trouble? He didn't have _time_ for this. He cancelled the email and stared back down at his notebook, willing the words to re-arrange themselves into some semblance of order before Jae came around, judging and peering over his shoulder like he always did.

Wait.

He couldn't help himself, he needed to read over that email he’d almost sent in his draft box. Yikes. He was really glad he hadn’t sent it now, it would have been total overkill. There was nothing he hated more than looking like a clingy over-thinker. 

_Crisis averted, Hanbin. Now back to work before you find yourself in a new one._


	2. Dead Poet Society

“How’s it going? Any progress?”

Hanbin jumped as his supervisor Jae, the Head of the Writing and Creativity Department, appeared by his side.

Hanbin liked Jae. Well, he liked him as much as he could like a moody hipster in his early-thirties who was bitterly aware the rest of the company frequently referred to his department as  _The Dead Poet Society_.

As the youngest and newest member of  _The Society_  Hanbin felt the pressure to deliver “writing and creativity” as tangibly as a gun pressed to the back of his head. And he  _still_  had no freaking idea why the label had even taken him on; an arts college grad, lit major with honours, won a couple of minor poetry awards here and there throughout high school and uni, one small piece in a monthly poetry journal, but nothing major. No “Young Writer to Look out for” title, no personal recommendations or connections to his name, no publishing deals in the works. Nothing. Nada.

He’d only applied for the job on a silly whim when it had come up at the top of his grad job search results and because he liked some of the labels artists. He’d stumbled through the surreal interview feeling like an imposter and left feeling downcast. The interviewer’s face’s as they skim read his writing portfolio hadn’t been promising. In fact, they’d looked sceptical as hell. He’d left the intimidating YG building feeling both deflated and relieved.

_Well, thank god I’m not going to get THAT job. Now THAT would be stressful. I’m not ready for a gig like THAT_

When he’d received the call he’d got the job two weeks later, at which point he’d only just managed to finally stop beating himself up over his crap interview, he’d been stunned.

_What the fuck though._

He’d also been pissed. Fucking furious. Because he couldn’t say no to an opportunity like this, but also he didn’t know how the hell he was going to say yes to working at one of the biggest labels in the country, for some of its biggest stars.

And yet, here he was, the newest, youngest member of YG’s Dead Poet Society!

Before Hanbin could reply, Jae picked up the serviette of blurred characters from his desk and began to inspect it.

“What’s this?”

“Ahhhhhhh nothing,” Hanbin replied plucking it from his fingers, as decorously and respectfully as he could.

Hanbin watched uneasily as Jae surveyed his workspace: small mac book open but not doing much, two piles of worn books with broken spines, a pinecone from his most recent hike, a spiderman figurine he’d found on the pavement on his morning walk to work, and a small succulent called Harry who’d been failing to thrive at home.

“Your writing process is…interesting.” Hanbin, who’d noticed for a while that Jae often used the word “interesting” interchangeably with “unrefined,” flushed and began to babble.  

“I’m getting there. I’ve finally got an idea. I’m work working on a motif - paper actually. You know how paper is this incredibly pliable but delicate material, kinda like a person really? We start off as blank canvases but over time we write ourselves, or on ourselves literally in the case of tattoos. Also things  _write us,_ like other people and life experiences. But what happens when there’s no more room on the paper to write? Maybe there are some experiences that don’t fit on the canvas, they’re too big, too incomprehensible. Maybe they are the experiences that we never truly process…traumas, I guess…so yeah…I’m just kinda working with that…”

Jae blinked.

“And this is a  _love_  song?”

“Mhmmm,” Hanbin squeaked.

“Ok…” Jae shrugged. “Well ah…looking forward to seeing the first draft this afternoon. We’ll be doing a group reading, so the whole team’s gonna share what they’ve done. We’ll brainstorm and work from there.”

“Sure.”

As soon as Jae had sufficiently  _gone the fuck away_ Hanbin released the long, strangled groan of someone about to lose it but couldn’t because that would take too much goddamn time. He dropped his face into his hands and tried to focus.

_What the fuck though._

_What the fuck._

Thanks to a particularly sentimental Hallmark commercial, he managed to get a few romantic lines of lyrics written. It wasn’t his best work but it was a starting point. By 1:30 pm, he was right in The Zone with rhymes and metaphors and Shakespeare in his head. There was half a bridge and a hint of a chorus. 

Fucking finally.

Inspiration has arrived early this year. No more waiting for the Winter of discontent-

There’s suddenly a BING! on his laptop that startles him. Grumbling already, he opens up the new email alert.

_What now?_

**_****_ **

To: khb3@ygx.kr

From: kjw2@ygx.kr

Subject: veronica hates me

hyuko! mf, veronica works but she won’t let me add a bass track. whats hiphop wit no bass yo, its like chicken wit no beer

****

To: kjw2@ygx.kr

From: khb3@ygx.kr

Subject: veronica hates me

I’m working

****

To: khb3@ygx.kr

From: kjw2@ygx.kr

Subject: veronica hates me

lolz no ur not, i just saw u and june racing chairs down the hall

****

To: kjw2@ygx.kr

From: khb3@ygx.kr

Subject: veronica hates me

No

****

To: khb3@ygx.kr

From: kjw2@ygx.kr

Subject: veronica hates me

what’s no

****

To: kjw2@ygx.kr

From: khb3@ygx.kr

Subject: veronica hates me

I’m getting back to work. Maybe you should do that too.

p.s. Pro-Tip: maybe learn how to use Veronica instead of bothering people on email about it.

****

To: khb3@ygx.kr

From: kjw2@ygx.kr

Subject: veronica hates me

oh shit, this isn’t hyuko is it? i did it again, sorry bro! haha

****

All the soft flowery lyrics and melodies in his head wither and die right then and there. He doesn’t just fall out of The Zone, he’s sucker punched right back into his writer’s block again. Fucking great. His plans for the bridge and chorus evaporate into thin air and dammit, they had been  _good_  too. 

He’s grinding his teeth as he re-reads the offending email again. 

_Haha??_

Wtf. This wasn’t funny. This wasn’t even slightly funny at all. He was irrationally angry now because making mistakes at YG wasn’t a privilege he could claim. As for making the same mistake  _twice_?? A mistake that wasted other people’s  _time_ and cost them a chorus and a bridge?!

_Oh HELL no._

Who the fuck did this idiot think he was? Did this illiterate slacker of a technician not take his job seriously at all? This was  _YG_  they were working at, one of the big three musical labels in the country! Not some b-grade daytime radio station no-one listened to.

_Haha??_

And what? The dude thought if he added a “haha” that it’d make up for all the time and ideas he’d cost him?

_Well, I’m NOT fucking laughing?!_

His hands hovered over the keyboard ready to strike out a reply. He wasn’t just going to make sure this idiot never wasted his time again, he was going to make sure the idiot never made a  _mistake_ again as long as he lived.  

 

****

To: kjw2@ygx.kr

From: khb3@ygx.kr

Subject: Please Do Work

Is everything a joke to you? Or do you just enjoy inconveniencing people like some bored intern? Some of us actually have to work to get by in this company so no, there’s nothing ‘haha’ about this. Why don’t you go figure out how Veronica works. Or do you just want to be some illiterate sound tech loser forever.

 

regards, 

I’m Busy-Do Not Email Me Ever

****

He hits ‘Send’ so hard that the sound of his keyboard could probably be heard down the hall.  A few seconds pass then….

….Oh.

Shit.

He shouldn’t have sent that.

Shit.


	3. Cherry Cupcake

Illiterate.

Loser?

Intern?!

Interns get coffee and collect mail. Interns are not trusted with a quarter of a million dollars worth of sound equipment. 

He stares at the offending email with a glare, as if the writer would even feel it, wherever and whoever he or she was. 

_I’m an illiterate loser am I? Well, screw you. I’m gonna read the fuck out this User’s Manual! Then I’ll produce the best track this company has ever heard._

He’s half way through chapter 1 of Veronica’s manual, and half way regretting everything, when Donghyuk walks in and slides a cherry cupcake towards him. 

“They were on sale at the bakery today.” Donghyuk says, pre-empting his question. 

He loves cherry cupcakes. How he came to that discovery is nobody’s business. And how Donghyuk figured it out will be taken to their graves.

“I love you.”

“Yeah yeah.” Donghyuk mutters, rolling his eyes for the 8th time today already. “How’s it going? Did you figure out the bass track? Because it’ll be another all-nighter soon, I can feel it.”

“All-nighter? Why?” He feels the adrenaline laced panic creeping up his spine. He hates those as much as he loves them. “Did the debut date get moved again?”

Donghyuk shakes his head and pulls up a chair. “Nothing confirmed. I think the Boss wants a spring debut. The group’s training is progressing faster than he predicted. We should be prepared for it.”

He groans. “What?! But why did they upgrade all the tech then? It’s gonna take us weeks to figure some of this shit out! Not all DAWs are the same! It’s not like any old idiot can just come in and use it, it takes-”

“Okay, okay. Calm down, Beethoven.” Donghyuk waves a placating hand at him. “Eat your goddamm cupcake and let me talk.”

There’s three certainties in life: death, YG underpaying him and it’s really hard to be pissed off when you have a cherry cupcake.

“So I was thinking that we call Veronica’s manufacturers and get one of their guys to come down and give us a run through.”

“Sounsdhgoodf.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, Jesus Jiwon.” Donghyuk reprimands. “Anyway, I’m thinking of scheduling it for next week but we gotta make it through the manual before then, otherwise it’ll just be a waste of time.”

He swallows. “I’m already on it. I’ll figure this shit out by the end of the week.”

“Right.” Donghyuk says skeptically. “Well, Team 6pac down the hall are still using the old console so we need to deliver the better track this time.”

“6pac are only good at one genre. They got no range and June knows it.”

Donghyuk takes off his glasses and rubs at his eyes in apparent exhaustion. “Tell me again why our team can’t have a better name? I mean, Piggie Smalls? Really? Are you a child?”

“I told you! It’s 2pac and Biggie! We’re rivals!”

“Then why can’t we just be the Notorious P.I.G?”

Actually.

That does sound kinda good.

“That can be our official name.” He concedes, making Donghyuk groan beside him. “But Piggie Smalls is the shit and you know it.”

He can’t remember when this whole friendly rivalry started. One day he was eating lunch alone and the next, he’s on first name basis with most of the sound department. It feels like he’s been at this company for so long when in reality, it’s only been 3 years. Angry-Email-Writer wasn’t completely wrong-he  _had_ been a lowly intern at one stage; collecting mail, making coffee, taking lunch orders for the other senior sound techs. It got mundane real fast. The only saving grace was Thursdays, when new work would be debuted during ‘Show And Tell’. It was also time for all the junior techs to work the DAWs and consoles. 

He knows he’s lucky. He was just a self-taught DJ who posted his tracks on youtube and soundcloud. Never in a million years did he think he’d answer an ad for YG or score an interview. More shocking still was the fact that they wanted him, based only on a few videos and half-finished tracks on the internet. He should be grateful. 

But still. Getting coffee and taking notes at meetings wasn’t what he signed up for when he accepted the contract to work here. 

Okay okay, truthfully, he had no idea  _what_ he really signed up for. He remembers just scribbling his name with the fancy fountain pen and hoping they’d send him away to make some beats and hooks. 

The pay was only okay. Not great. But a job’s a job. It’s better than being unemployed and he was getting real tired of that shit too. He tried to be positive and grateful about it but after 2 months, he was ready to quit and go back to being a poor club DJ. 

He remembers eating lunch by himself in the corner of the staff room, sulking angrily into his box of noodles and staring out the 8th floor window like he was in some kind of prison. 

“Bad day, huh?”

“What?”

Some guy had come to sit next to him, even though most of the staff room was empty by now. 

“You’re sitting on the newspaper I want to read and glaring at your noodles.” The guy had chuckled. “Don’t tell the Boss but that’s a pretty common thing for newbies to do here.”

He had jumped up then, apologising for sitting on the daily newspapers and the guy had laughed again, waving away his  _I’m Sorrys._

“Don’t stress too much though? YG does it on purpose to break you all in. He’s not stupid, if he wanted you to work here, he’ll make sure you do. They have tons of employees to make coffee and do the lunch run. Just wait it out.”

He had nodded and watched as the Guy separated all the music sections out of the newspapers and went back to his own lunch on the other side of the room. 

That was 3 years ago. 

And how he met Donghyuk.

Donghyuk, who was now trying to bring him back to reality by kicking at his ankles. “Are you even listening?”

“Yeah, I am!”

No he wasn’t.

“Anyway, I have to go answer a ton of emails from the higher-ups. Make sure you finish the manual and try to get the bass track done for Show And Tell on Thursday.”

He’ll do it.

He’ll finishing this fucking 30 chaptered Users Manual. He’ll figure out how to add the bass track. It’ll go so hard that Angry-Email-Writer will regret ever calling him an illiterate sound tech loser. 

But he’s finished his cupcake now. And he’d rather work on his audios than read. So. Yeah. He’ll start the Users Manual properly…..tomorrow.

****

Tomorrow, as it turns out, takes a whole 6 days of speed reading. He nearly goes crossed-eyed and in his messed up state he realises that he might actually have to get glasses or something, especially if he continues to read this much in the dim lighting of his apartment. 

But chapter 30 comes. 

And goes. 

So fuck yes, he did it. He read all 30 chapters. It only cost him 2 eyes, an industrial sized box of instant ramen, 7 cherry cupcakes, minus 3 abs and 80% of his sanity. 

The first thing he does on Monday morning is open his email.

He’s not sure what makes him do it. Pride. The competitiveness. Maybe. Something like that.

****

To: khb3@ygx.kr

From: kjw2@ygx.kr

Subject: FYI

i finishd Veronica’s user manual in a week

 

from, 

A literate sound tech


	4. Charles Barkley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday dearest, weirdest, sweetest Quail!

“I’m fired,” Hanbin announced, crashing into the seat next to Yunhyeong in the cafeteria. He sounded so resigned that for the first time ever Yunhyeong was inclined to take his friend’s whinging seriously.

Yunhyeong was in the marketing department but he may as well have been in the Dead Poet Society himself because of how well Hanbin had acquainted him with its politics. They were both still newbies, having started at the beginning of the year at the same time. Good fortune had placed their offices opposite to one another on the same level. Hanbin liked to joke that if it hadn’t been for Yunhyeong he would have turned to heroin by now.

Evening after evening for the first twelve weeks they’d run into each other in the corridor, both the last members of their departments to leave for the night.

At first, they were formal with each other, unsure how much to reveal of their struggles to keep up with the unspoken but relentless YG pressure.

“Hey! You’re finally heading home too?” Yunhyeong smiled. Hanbin had been amazed that someone could manage to still be so chirpy stuck in the office at 9pm on a Tuesday.

“Yes, finally finished writing. And you?”

However, the pretences dropped as they watched each other slide further and further into survival mode as the weeks went on.

“Hey, how are you?” Yunhyeong smiled weakly, his crisp blue shirt patched with sweat, takeaway stains on his tie.  

“I want to die.” Hanbin informed him, his eyes devoid of life, his hair a greasy nest.

“Cool, me too! Let’s go drink till we can’t remember who the fuck we are.”

“Alcohol makes me vomit though.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll hold your hair back.”

Yes, Yunhyeong was used to Hanbin’s crises, but this current one seemed even more intense than normal.

“What happened this time?? Did you go and write another pop song about the inevitability of death? Because we talked about that, I warned you!”

“Nope.” Hanbin lifted his coffee to his lip and swallowed with difficulty, it tasted like bile. He shouldn’t have been drinking coffee, it never failed to make left eye twitch and his heart palpitate. But since he was going to die today, what the hell did it even matter?? Why not go out with a bang??

“I accidentally sent an email to the CEO’s son.”

Yunhyeong narrowed his eyes.

“And it was  _bad_. A bad, bad, bad, rude, terrible,  _horrible_  email.”

“How the hell did you manage that??”

“I told you I attract bad luck, I summon it, it follows me, it waits and lurks in the background until I’m distracted, then it pounces an-”

“-Stop talking,” Yunhyeong interrupted Hanbin’s tortured rambling. “What exactly did you say to him!?”

“I called him an illiterate sound tech.”

“But why??”

“Because he kept bothering me with really annoying emails about some stupid software I don’t give a shit about!! He kept interrupting me and breaking my writing flow!! But I didn’t realise it was  _him_!!”

“Oh man…yeah you dead. Shit, who am I going to drink with after work now??” Yunhyeong gave him a disappointed glare.

Hanbin finished the rest of his now cold coffee in one go with a wince. How the hell did he get himself into these stupid situations?? Why did it feel like his life was just one stupid situation after another??

_You get hired by YG because you accidentally managed to convince them you could write, now you get fired because you accidentally insult the CEO’s son via email. Wow, Hanbin. It’s almost like you’re a complete utter moron?!_

Seconds after he’d pressed send last Friday he realised he’d fucked up. Satisfaction turned to panic as pieces of information he’d conveniently forgotten bobbed to the surface of his mind.

Just a week ago Jae had mentioned they all needed to be on their best behaviour because the CEO’s son was swinging by. He was now of age to care about what his daddy did and wanted to explore the company like a playground.

He hadn’t ended up visiting the Dead Poet Society – of course, no one ever did- and the next day Jae had heard from someone else the guy had spent most of him time with the sound technicians. Apparently, he’d expressed interest in music production and had tried his hand at fiddling around with the new software.

Hanbin’s stomach dropped, he was in freefall.

“Jae?” Hanbin’s voice cracked.

“Mmmm?” his supervisor responded over the top of the desk partition.

“What’s the CEO’s son’s name again??”

“Ahh I dunno, I forget.”

“It starts with J right? Aren’t his initials like, KJW ??”

“Maybe…I think that’s right. Why?”

“Oh, no reason! Just sheer curiosity…”

“What. Did you go and accidentally send the CEO’s son an email or something?” Jae joked.

“No!” Hanbin laughed painfully hard, a few seconds longer than necessary.

“I hope you weren’t rude!” Jae teased. Hanbin gulped and then like an idiot…he’d simply GONE HOME.

That weekend he had been a mess of the highest order. He’d barely slept, he hadn’t been able to meditate, he’d over-watered his pot plants, the butterflies in his stomach had been in constant flight refusing to let him eat, he’d bitten all his nails down to the quick, he’d gone for three nervous power walks, he had caught up on precisely zero work.

He was one hundred percent sure he had been corresponding with the CEO’s son who was “fiddling” around with Veronica. He was one hundred and ten percent sure he’d come across like a  _total_  asshole. He was five hundred percent certain he was as good as gone. He’d be going in on Monday simply to face the firing range.

He should have done something as soon as he’d realised what he’d done. He should have told Jae everything, begged him to intervene and help him out. He should have gone straight to the sound tech office and apologised in person. He should have done  _something_.

“It’s ok…we can still catch up outside YG,” Yunhyeong suggested, patting his shoulder. Hanbin nodded pitifully. It was time to face the music. Literally.

But he was the first to arrive in the office. It looked like he wasn’t going to be put out of his misery yet.

WAIT.

What if Jae was in a meeting right now. A meeting with the CEO and his son about him and the emails??

He needed to punish himself. He opened up his work email, he was going to re-read his last sent email, every miserable, humiliating darn wor-

WAIT.

kjw2@ygx.kr had replied….

Hardly breathing and with his stomach heaving, he clicked the email.

                                                 ***

**To: khb3@ygx.kr**

**From: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**Subject: FYI**

i finishd Veronica’s user manual in a week

from,

A literate sound tech

                                                  ***

Hanbin read it once, then again, then another ten times. Were they joking? Were they being sarcastic? Were they proud? What even  _was_ this tone??

His hands hovered nervously over the keyboard until finally, he decided to play it safe. He was going to do something different, something he hadn’t really tried before. He was going to be nice.

                                                 ***

**To: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**From: khb3@ygx.kr**

**Subject: FYI**

Wow congrats

 

regards, 

khb

                                               ***

Jiwon is at his console, agonising over two basslines that sounded exactly the same, when the email pings through on his laptop. 

Wow?

Congrats?

Does that smell like sarcasm or is it CK: Truth? Is he getting paranoid or is Donghyuk really late with his cupcake today? Why do all of YG’s basslines sound the same? Why is he talking to himself…

                                              ***

**To: khb3@ygx.kr**

**From: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**Subject: ulation?**

nt even the whole wrd huh?

                                             ***

**To: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**From: khb3@ygx.kr**

**Subject: ulation?**

What?

 

regards,

Confused-Here

                                             ***

**To: khb3@ygx.kr**

**From: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**Subject: ulation?**

I read th entire manual. Whre’s the rest of my congratz?

 

from, 

Whats-Confusing?

                                            ***

**To: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**From: khb3@ygx.kr**

**Subject: ulation?**

I’m not sure what this is and I apologise if I was rude before. It’s really great you finished the manual. I just wanted to say congratulations, that’s all. 

 

regards,

KHB

                                            ***

**To: khb3@ygx.kr**

**From: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**Subject: ulation?**

Lol, y did u get all formal just now

                                           ***

**To: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**From: khb3@ygx.kr**

**Subject: ulation?**

Sorry. I’ll stop bothering you and let you get back to work. Sorry again. 

 

regards,

KHB

                                           ***

**To: khb3@ygx.kr**

**From: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**Subject: ulation?**

wat? chill out bro, we’re jst talking. Why r you freaking out?

 

from,

Whos-KHB?

 

                                          ***

**To: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**From: khb3@ygx.kr**

**Subject: ulation?**

I’m not. I’ll just get back to work now. Sorry again for bothering you. 

 

regards,

I’m KHB                                       

                                         ***

**To: khb3@ygx.kr**

**From: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**Subject: ulation?**

whats up with you? You worried yg’s spying or smthing?

 

from,

What-Does-KHB-Stand-For?

                                         ***

**To: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**From: khb3@ygx.kr**

**Subject: ulation?**

Yes. 

 

regards,

Its just my name     

                                          ***

**To: khb3@ygx.kr**

**From: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**Subject: haha**

LOL! Dude. His kid is in the building this week, you rlly think he’s gt time for us? We’re nthing to him right now.

 

from,

So whats your name then?

                                        ***

 

**To: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**From: khb3@ygx.kr**

**Subject: haha**

I’m not telling you my name. Sorry.

 

regards,

Sorry It’s Kinda Weird   

                                         ***

**To: khb3@ygx.kr**

**From: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**Subject: OMG**

Geez ok, calm dwn KHB. Just asking. 

 

from,

KJW 

                                       ***

**To: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**From: khb3@ygx.kr**

**Subject: OMG**

You know, telling people to calm down is the #1 thing that prevents them from calming down.

 

regards,

I Have Work To Do   

                                 ***

**To: khb3@ygx.kr**

**From: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**Subject: OMG**

omg, is it always this hrd to talk to you

 

from,

Work.mp3 (i hate that song)

                                      ***

**To: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**From: khb3@ygx.kr**

**Subject: OMG**

… 

 

regards, 

Then Don’t Talk To Me

                                   ***

**To: khb3@ygx.kr**

**From: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**Subject: OMG**

now i don’t even get any words? rude

 

from,

But You’re Funny

                                 ***

**To: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**From: khb3@ygx.kr**

**Subject: OMG**

I don’t know why you’re still talking. You read the manual, go make some tracks or tech some sound.

 

regards,

Comic Genius   

                                ***

**To: khb3@ygx.kr**

**From: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**Subject: ok**

why do you keep replyin then

 

from,

i’m funny too

                                ***

**To: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**From: khb3@ygx.kr**

**Subject: ok**

I’m going to my meeting. Have a nice day.

 

regards,

You’re funny to leopard seals

                            ***

Hanbin stares at his screen and wonders how the hell he got dragged into that entire email conversation. The guy, and he’s almost certain it’s a guy by now, talked like he’s wasn’t the CEO’s son but he wouldn’t put it past YGX to plant spies amongst workers to ensure they’re all working.  _Oh God._ He was doing so well, why did he let his stupid stupid brain take the bait and why the hell did he have to mention leopard seals? They’re going to think he’s both unprofessional and crazy. 

Maybe he’ll be fired tomorrow. It’ll be like the Not-So-Sweet-release of death. 

He’s rifling through the drawers for his migraine tablets when a message pings on his laptop. 

                          ***

**To: khb3@ygx.kr**

**From: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**Subject: LOL**

bc they don’t have ears! i just got that one haha. Have fun at your meeting.

 

from, 

All seals should be called Charles Barkley

                          ***

The meeting goes badly. Again. Hanbin tried, okay? For the record, let it be stated that he tried his tiny black shriveled heart out. But the only thing he could think about was meeting a leopard seal called Charles Barkley who knew how to mix basslines.  

“Something funny Kim?”

“No sir, just uh, got a new idea just now.”

“Maybe something good this time?”

Hanbin flushes tomato red before ducking his head and pretending to scribble something down in his notebook. His head meets his desk as soon as he’s back in his cubicle. 

_Get back to work, Kim. Get back to work!_

But instead…

                          ***

**To: kjw2@ygx.kr**

**From: khb3@ygx.kr**

**Subject: <no subject>**

And all G.O.A.Ts should be called Michael Jordan

*******


End file.
